This is an incredible piece of music. This is exactly the kind of power metal I love, incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous and they don’t give a shit. The guy’s voice is insane. 90% of his vocals are just ridiculous, Halford-esque shrieks, and it is absolutely amazing. He does some growls at the end, too; that was pretty cool. Instrumentally, the band is pretty much on fire as well. There’s nothing here that is unheard-of or game-changing, but they are just SO FREAKING GOOD AT IT that it really works. The riffing, drumming and soloing are all fantastic.

I guess my only complaint is that the vocalist could have been featured more? Simply because he dominates any time he appears.

9 points

NekovFlorence + The Machine - No Light No Light

This is a group that has been on my “I will probably like this” list for quite some time now, but I don’t know that I’ve ever actively listened to them. This song is, more or less, what I suppose I would have expected the group to sound like. A sort of indie/art rock band with a strong pop aesthetic and a great vocalist. Florence (I’m assuming the singer’s name is Florence? The name wouldn’t make much sense otherwise, so I will persist with my presumption) has a fantastic voice; she stays in a lower register than I typically hear from most female vocalists, and it works very well here (she actually reminds me a bit of Lana Del Rey). I also love that even though the emphasis of the song seems to be on the vocals, the instrumental side of the group is still very strong; I particularly the reverberating drums that pervade the piece.

Hmm, I’ve run out of stuff to say.

8.5 points

Tom BombadilDemians - Naive

You know, I’ve heard the name Demians before. I recall that they were basically a one-man band, and that a lot of people were big fans. For some reason I had the impression they were a prog metal group, which I guess is why I didn’t check them out?

Anyway, I was completely wrong. This is an incredible song. It actually sounds more alt-rock/metal to me than anything else, though I think some progressive influences are present. My favorite part of this song is the vocalist. On paper, his voice doesn’t seem like something that would really impress, but for some reason it just meshes incredibly well. The melodies are fantastic and the way he delivers them is just perfect. I looked up the band, and apparently the guy is French? I can hear a bit of an accent, but for some reason, the way he sings and enunciates sounds like he’s got something of a Southern twang in his voice. It’s not full-on redneck; it’s actually pretty subtle, but it adds a ton of character to his voice.

This was my favorite song sent this round, and I will definitely be checking this group out further.

9.5 points

bl5150Dionysus - True At Heart

This is some very solid power metal. The vocalist is quite good, and he’s got a bit more grit in his voice than most power metal I’ve heard, which is pretty cool. The song does everything you’d expect a good power metal song to do, it has the melodic chorus, energetic drumming and some widdly-widdly guitar work. Unfortunately this seems to be the downfall of the song as well; while it is quite good at what it does, it also never seems to quite push itself from “good” to “great”.

7 points

BolstersMØ - Red in the Gray

I am not sure how to pronounce the name of this artist. This is a really great song, and oddly enough is the second song I’ve been sent where the vocalist reminds me of Lana Del Rey, though in this case it’s more the faintly jazzy (perhaps not the best term?) way she sings more than the specific timbre of her voice. The song I guess is a sort of dreamy/psychedelic/electronic/OK I don’t know what kind of music this is, but I really like it. The instrumentation is particularly interesting to me because, while on the surface it doesn’t appear like much is going on, when I pay closer attention, there’s a ton of little instrumental flourishes that really round out the song.

9 points

SaculThe Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun

So this is a pretty odd piece of music. It starts out with some strange droning noises, then kicks into a powerful drumbeat, complete with weird electronic sounds. The vocalist is another interesting point. He doesn’t have a hugely powerful voice, and I don’t know that I’d care for him in another contexts, but it actually works pretty well here. Unfortunately, the downfall of the song is that it just goes on too long. It seems like a bit past the 3 minute mark there’s a sort of natural end to the piece, but instead it starts up again, without really introducing anything new, which kind of baffles me. So this is kind of a weird one; I really do like parts of it, but I feel like those parts are overused, and the song would have benefited either from being trimmed somewhat, or just a change in pace.

6.5 points

Tomislav95Hypocrisy - Eraser

It’s actually pretty rare these days for me to hear a new metal group that I really like, but it seems these guys are one of the exceptions; this is fantastic music. The vocalist in particular is incredible, his harsh vocals are magnificent, especially considering that this is a live performance. Interestingly, while the instrumental side of the band seems to lean more toward death metal/melodeath, the vocals have a definite black metal edge.

Overall not a lot to say here, just a really fantastic metal song.

9 points

Train of NaughtMachine Head - Darkness Within

Yeah, Machine Head is a band I’ve heard of vaguely, but never really investigated.

Initially, at least vocally, it reminded me quite a bit of a lot of radio hard rock, or at least what I consider to be radio hard rock. This kind of persists throughout the song, though I do enjoy it a lot more when the heavier parts kick in; I find the vocalist’s style to work a bit better there, especially on the chorus. Actually the instrumental is my favorite part of the song, the riffing and solo are excellent.

Overall I did like this song, though with reservations about the vocalist.

7 points

425Don Henley - New York Minute

I am somewhat familiar with The Eagles, though not a huge fan by any means. My favorite part of their music was always Don Henley’s vocals, and he’s in fine form here as well. There is some nice piano and percussion work, as well as a really cool trumpet solo, but largely the focus is on Don’s performance, which I think adds to the strength of the song. One problem I do have with it, though, is that it seems to go on a bit too long without any real changes in the structure, whereas a bit more variation would have justified the track length a bit better. This does affect my enjoyment of the song a bit, even though I do still like it quite a bit.

Alright, took a bit of a hit on my "send some song I like" round, but not too much of one. Luckily roulette reinforcements are here. There's one album in particular I've been spinning a lot lately so it's a matter of listening to it again and picking a song, which I will do tonight or tomorrow.

Glad you liked them and yes, Florence is the singer. Their second album, which the song I sent you comes from, is more artsy than the other 2 which are more pop oriented but still make for a good listen.

I thought I risked with Hypocrisy but I couldn't resist to send you this incredible band and I did it mainly because of vocalist. He is best death metal vocalist IMO. Something different for this round.Also, Darkness Within is probably my favorite song by Machine Head (I don't consider myself a fan but I know few albums), great choice Train of Naught (too bad Shadow Ninja didn't liked it that much)

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And I knew exactly what to do. But in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do. - Michael Scott

Apparently there's no correct way to pronounce MØ, because it's her initials and the Ø makes it impossible to pronounce in english for some reason. She has said herself that it doesn't matter how people choose to pronounce the name. Most people just go with "Moe".

This is an incredible piece of music. This is exactly the kind of power metal I love, incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous and they don’t give a shit. The guy’s voice is insane. 90% of his vocals are just ridiculous, Halford-esque shrieks, and it is absolutely amazing. He does some growls at the end, too; that was pretty cool. Instrumentally, the band is pretty much on fire as well. There’s nothing here that is unheard-of or game-changing, but they are just SO FREAKING GOOD AT IT that it really works. The riffing, drumming and soloing are all fantastic.

I guess my only complaint is that the vocalist could have been featured more? Simply because he dominates any time he appears.

This is an incredible piece of music. This is exactly the kind of power metal I love, incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous and they don’t give a shit. The guy’s voice is insane. 90% of his vocals are just ridiculous, Halford-esque shrieks, and it is absolutely amazing. He does some growls at the end, too; that was pretty cool. Instrumentally, the band is pretty much on fire as well. There’s nothing here that is unheard-of or game-changing, but they are just SO FREAKING GOOD AT IT that it really works. The riffing, drumming and soloing are all fantastic.

I guess my only complaint is that the vocalist could have been featured more? Simply because he dominates any time he appears.

Kelly Carpenter is absolutely incredible.

Amazing singer who seems to mostly sing in bands/songs I don't like. I will check out the new Darkology shortly (tonight actually) but they've never really impressed me , despite his voice.

« Last Edit: August 23, 2015, 06:23:02 AM by bl5150 »

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"I would just like to say that after all these years of heavy drinking, bright lights and late nights, I still don't need glasses. I drink right out of the bottle." - DLR

This is an incredible piece of music. This is exactly the kind of power metal I love, incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous and they don’t give a shit. The guy’s voice is insane. 90% of his vocals are just ridiculous, Halford-esque shrieks, and it is absolutely amazing. He does some growls at the end, too; that was pretty cool. Instrumentally, the band is pretty much on fire as well. There’s nothing here that is unheard-of or game-changing, but they are just SO FREAKING GOOD AT IT that it really works. The riffing, drumming and soloing are all fantastic.

I guess my only complaint is that the vocalist could have been featured more? Simply because he dominates any time he appears.

Kelly Carpenter is absolutely incredible.

Amazing singer who seems to mostly sing in bands/songs I don't like. I will check out the new Darkology shortly (tonight actually) but they've never really impressed me , despite his voice.

Agree 100%. Darkology has a few excellent songs, but for the most part, they just don't float my boat musically. Virus IV too; and I'm not overly fond of the Beyond Twilight album he did. His work on Epysode/Obsessions is fan-fucking-tastic though. Just goes to show, an amazing vocalist can't compensate for mediocre music.

OK as I said before, sorry about the delay. I’ve been trying to keep these rounds at 1 week or less, but I went a bit over this time. Hopefully I can keep things more timely for the next two rounds.

ROUND 5 RESULTS

NekovAutumn Moonlight - Letters To God

So here we have a sort of post-rock piece. In a decidedly atypical fashion, though, the song doesn’t start out sparse and build, opting instead to begin full-force, and then move to a quieter section and build up again from there. This is a really sonically appealing piece of music, all the instrument tones, especially the guitar, just sound really nice to me. There’s some really great bass work near the beginning of the song, and the guitar is quite excellent throughout the song. My main issue with the song is that it seems to go on a bit too long; I think it would have been a lot stronger if it had wrapped up around the 5 minute mark. As it is, it seems to just repeat the same ideas that had been used earlier in the piece, and I think this is to the song’s detriment. I did like the audio samples, presumably the titular letters. Those were pretty cool.

7.5 points

Tomislav95Woods of Ypres - Everything I Touch Turns To Gold (Then To Coal)

This one starts out with some slow, really doom-y sounding guitar chords. I really expected this piece to feature mostly harsh vocals, so I was quite surprised to hear a deep, clean voice start singing. Some harsh vocals do come in after that, but they’re overlaid with the clean voice in a way that works extremely well. My problem with this song is in its lack of variation. Though it’s pretty short, it seems to be quite repetitive. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be? I’m guessing this is some sort of doom metal, and that could well be a staple of the genre. Still, while I do really like those sections of the song, after they’ve been repeated several times without much variation, I start to get a little bored with them.

7 points

BolstersMeatloaf - Bat Out of Hell

OK first, the link you sent me was 240p. I should dock you some points for that.

Anyway, I have, of course, heard of Meatloaf, but as far as I know, this is my first time actually hearing any of his music. And it is, in a word, awesome. The intro is great, with some fantastic guitar work, and really the whole piece is quite strong instrumentally, but obviously the main event here is the guy’s voice. The way he sings honestly seems to me almost like something you’d hear on Broadway, if Broadway were a bit more metal. As I said before, I really love this kind of theatrical, over-the-top kind of singing, and this is about as good as anything I’ve ever heard in that style. He goes from the softer, melodic parts, to the rougher parts, to the huge soaring sections with ease, and as a plus the whole song is incredibly catchy. This song is nearly ten minutes, but honestly it doesn’t feel like it at all; there’s no point in the song where I feel like it’s dragging. I will definitely be investigating Meatloaf further, and asking myself why the fuck I didn’t do so sooner.

As a side note, this song really reminds me of some other song every time I hear it. I thought I’d have figured it out by the time I wrote these results, but I haven’t, so I’m leaving this here as a sort of note to myself in case I ever do.

9.5 points

bl5150Beyond Twilight - Ecstasy Arise

So this is a fairly solid prog metal piece. There’s nothing here that really blows me away musically; though the band is quite adept, much of it isn’t hugely memorable. The high point here is obviously Kelly Carpenter. He is fantastic. Not on the “what the hell is this” level of Outworld, but still, really good. The chorus is the best part of the song, and despite being sort of an “unexpected” melody (I don’t really know a better way to put this), it ends up being quite catchy.

Unfortunately, as I said before, the rest of the song doesn’t do a ton for me. It’s all perfectly well performed prog metal, but there’s just nothing here that really catches my attention, beside the aforementioned Kelly Carpenter.

7 points

SaculIgorrr - Tout Petite Moineau

And while we’re on the topic of “what the hell is this”….

Sacul, sometimes you hit, and sometimes you miss, but you pretty regularly send me some of the weirdest stuff I’ve ever heard. This definitely falls under that category, and also falls under being a huge fucking hit.

So let’s talk a bit about it. I feel like if Mike Patton were a woman, this is what his music would sound like. Operatic vocals, bizarre growls/roars/whatever the hell those are, electronic music backed by very stately violin…. Honestly, this song should just be a fucking mess of a disaster, but somehow it’s not. Her vocals are absolutely amazing, whether they’re of the operatic variety, or the shrieks and screams. The dubstep-y electronic backing works shockingly well with the avant-garde vocal performance, so much so that I’m actually surprised this is the only time I’ve heard such a thing done. I also love how the violin maintains its same classical sort of pace and sound, regardless of what’s happening with the rest of the song, which again REALLY SHOULDN’T WORK, but for some reason it does.

Have some points.

9.5 points

Train Of NaughtBlack Stone Cherry - Blind Man

I think I’ve heard of this band before. I just kinda assumed they were a typical radio rock band. And well, they kinda are… but then maybe not? Maybe about 20 or 30 years ago. Despite being a modern band, they’ve got a decidedly old-school rock’n’roll sound about them, but with the plus of modern production, so all the instrument tones are nice and clear.

I guess I don’t really have a ton to say about this one. It didn’t blow me away, but it’s very good and I haven’t tired of listening to it yet.

8 points

Scorpion

TYR - The Lay of Thyrm

BY THE SWORD IN MY - wait a minute this band has other songs? Huh.

I have not heard this one before. Despite knowing of TYR for probably about five or six years, I have only ever listened to two of their songs.

This one is… well, pretty much what I would expect from them. Galloping guitars (adjective chosen because I’m pretty sure I actually heard a horse in this song), great vocals, anthemic choruses. I guess you might call this predictability? Normally this would tend to be a detriment for a band, but somehow TYR fuckin’ make it work. I don’t think it surpasses By The Sword In My Hand (but then, what can??), but it’s a solid piece of power metal awesomery nonetheless.

Also, your song 2 I am 90% was one you’ve sent me before. Fortunately, your song 1 submission was accepted.

8 points

Tom BombadilTenhi - Huomen

You know, from the cover art, I kind of presumed this would be a black metal type band. And maybe some of their other music is, but this piece definitely is not. This is a very atmospheric, kind of eerie piece of music. The eeriness, (is that a word?) comes mostly from the vocals. I don’t know what he’s saying, or even what language he’s saying it in, but his deep voice and his delivery of the lyrics gives a very mournful cast to the song. It makes an interesting contrast with the music, which, while not cheerful by any stretch, does carry a more hopeful sound to it. Also I should mention, the acoustic guitar here as beautiful. It really seems like the centerpiece of the song here, moreso than the vocals.

8.5 points

425Lorde - Buzzcut Season

For future reference, any time you think to yourself, “Wow, this song was such a big hit, Shadow Ninja has definitely heard it”, just go ahead and send it, I probably haven’t heard it. I have not heard Royals, as far as I know.

Nonetheless, I find it hard to imagine that you could have made a better choice than you did here, so lament not. This is a fantastic piece of music, and I’m going to say it’s dream pop, or at least what I think dream pop should sound like. Lorde’s voice is absolutely incredible, very light and melodic and perfectly suited to the dreamlike atmosphere created by the music and the lyrics. And since you mentioned the lyrics (and I did as well), let’s mention them for the moment. You are quite right that the lyrics are more to my taste than probably any other song you’ve sent so far. To be honest, I find it hard to quantify what kind of lyrics I enjoy. A sometimes I just straight up don’t listen to them, but I think more often I’m looking less for words that convey any sort of meaning, but moreso words that fit together in an artful kind of way, that contribute to an emotion or a feeling of a song, but not necessarily conveying any meaning in and of themselves, at least to me.

I don’t know if that makes any sense. One thing me and my brother discussed yesterday was lyrics, and he happened to mention liking vague or metaphorical lyrics, so that he could create his own meaning around them. I often like the same thing in lyrics, but I really don’t associate any “meaning” to the lyrics themselves, I actively prefer the lack of any specific meaning, whether in the song, or by my own association. Or I think, at least. Most of this is me noticing the stuff I like, and then kind of triyng to reverse engineer from there. You can ignore most of this, I’m fairly sure it doesn’t make any sense. Regardless, this song is awesome, and I love it.

OK now it is time for ROUND 6!! I will try to keep this round under a week this time. I have gotten a ton of awesome music so far, and I am sure you guys will deliver once more. Actually, one of my main motivations for writing up the results is so I can listen to the songs whenever I want, instead of within my specific roulette listening rubric. So the awesomer your songs are, the quicker results will come! …I think that is the conclusion to be drawn from the thing I said. ANYWAY, two round left to go, you guys! We can do it, I believe in us.

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if the flow checks out and your rhymes are dope enough then the police start unholstering their guns